I think crime pays. The hours are good, you travel a lot. 12

-Allen,Woody pseudonym of  Allen Stewart Konigsberg
  Take the Money and Run.

An absolute and unlimited right over any object of property would be the right to commit nearly every crime.If Ihad sucha right over thestick Iamaboutto cut, I might employ it as a mace to knock down the passengers, or I might convert it into a sceptre as an emblem of royalty, or into an idol to offend the national religion.

-Bentham,Jeremy
Principles of the Civil Code, pt.1, ch.13, final note. Collected in John Bowring (ed)  Works (1838^43), vol.1.

Ink, n. Avillainous compound†chiefly used to facilitate the infection of idiocyand promote intellectual crime.

-Bierce, Ambrose Gwinett
  The Cynic's Word Book. Retitled  The Devil's Dictionary (1911).

Labour is the Party of law and order in Britain todayötough on crime and tough on the causes of crime.

-Blair,Tony (Anthony Charles Lynton)
  Speech as Shadow Home Secretary, Labour Party Conference, Sep.

The danger chiefly lies in acting well; No crime's so great as daring to excel.

-Churchill, Charles
  An Epistle to William Hogarth, l.51^2.

The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which condition if he break, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime, and the punishment of his guilt.

-Curran,John Philpot
  Speech, Dublin,10  Jul.

   All people seem to be divided into'ordinary'and 'extraordinary'. The ordinary people must lead a life of strict obedience and have no right to transgress the law because†theyare ordinary.Whereas the extraordinary people have the right to commit any crime they like and transgress the law in any way just because they happen to be extraordinary.

-Dostoevsky, Fyodor Mikhailovich
  Crime and Punishment, pt.3, ch.5 (translated by David Magarshak).

Singularity is almost invariablya clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more difficult it is to bring it home.

-Doyle, SirArthur Conan
  The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes,'The Boscombe Valley Mystery'.

Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should dwell.

-Doyle, SirArthur Conan
  The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes,'The Copper Beeches'.

Ex-Professor Moriartyof mathematical celebrity†isthe Napoleon of crime,Watson.

-Doyle, SirArthur Conan
  The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes,'The Final Problem'.

Punishment is not for revenge, but to lessen crime and reform the criminal.

-Fry, Elizabeth
Quoted in Rachel E Cresswell and Katharine Fry Memoir of the Life of Elizabeth Fry (1848).

My object all sublime I shall achieve in timeö To let the punishment fit the crime.

-Gilbert, Sir W(illiam) S(chwenck)
   The Mikado's song, The Mikado, act 2.

Non enim rei effectus, sed efficientis affectus in crimine est. Nec qu× fiunt, sed quo animo fiunt, ×quitus pensat. Crime liesnot inthe deed, but inthe doer'sintention: it is not what was done, but the spirit in which it was done that justice should consider.

-He¤  lo|«  se
c.1135  First letter to Peter  Abelard.

I thought that writing a detective story would be a wonderful apprenticeship because, whatever people tell you, a crime novel is not easy to write well. As I continued with my craft I became increasingly fascinated by the form and realized that you can use the formula to say something true about men and women and the society in which they live.

-Baroness
  'Series Detectives', collected in Brown and Munro (eds) Writers Writing (1993).

Murder is a unique crime for which we can never make reparation.

-Baroness
  'Series Detectives', collected in Brown and Munro (eds) Writers Writing (1993).

Violence is a lie, for it goes against the truth of our faith, the truth of our humanity† Violence is a crime against humanity, for it destroysthevery fabric of society.On my knees I beg you to turn away from the paths of violence.

-PopeJohn Paul II originally Karol Jozef Wojtyla
  Speech at Drogheda, Ireland, 29 Sep.

Consider, Sir, how should you like, though conscious of your innocence, to be tried before a jury for a capital crime, once a week.

-Johnson, Samuel known as Dr Johnson
  Remark, 3  Apr. Quoted in  James Boswell  The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), vol.3.

Had we but world enough, and time, This coyness Lady were no crime. We would sit down, and think which way To walk, and pass our long love's day. Thou by the Indian Ganges'side Shouldst rubies find: I by the tide Of Humber would complain. I would Love you ten years before the flood.

-Marvell, Andrew
c.1650^1652  'To His Coy Mistress' (published1681).

The study of crime begins with the knowledge of oneself. All that you despise, all that you loathe, all that you reject, all that you condemn and seek to convert by punishment springs from you.

-Miller, Henry Valentine
  The Air-Conditioned Nightmare,'The Soul of  Anaesthesia'.

Linked in love so dear, To undergo with me one guilt, one crime, If any be, of tasting this fair fruit.

-Milton,John
  Eve to Adam. Paradise Lost (published1667), bk.9, l.970^2.